administrators

Yes,
the end of the school year is in sight.
Teachers are worried about finishing the curriculum, checking in books,
taking posters off the walls, entering grades, and all of their other year-end
tasks. Administrators are ticking items
off of their unique building goal lists and sending out reminders and final
instructions for the last days of school, all the while contemplating their
summer worklists. In anticipation of the
end of the year, we experience a seemingly abrupt conclusion followed by a
collective sigh. Afterward, the thoughts
of “Oh, no, we forgot… “ settle into our minds.

Let’s start now to check off the tasks and items that are complete or need follow-up.

We can then take time to reflect and celebrate the positive accomplishments that we might otherwise overlook in a rush to the end. The provided checklists are republished to serve as a guide to districtwide and classroom reflection and to remind us of all the tasks that require completion or monitoring to start the next year.

Improvements in teaching and learning can be rather challenging to come by and to maintain over time, and in order to make systemic changes within your district, you need to have all staff on board and prepared to do their part. The graphic below illustrates the relationships between the various working groups throughout the process.

Much like puzzle pieces fit to create a complete design each of these working groups must complete their assigned duties (part of the systematic process) to achieve and maintain results. Evaluate your curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices to determine if your district has each of these pieces in place. If they were in place at one time, are they still actively in place and fully functional?

Throughout our experiences, we have found that these steps and these engaged professionals are critical to accomplishing the foundations of a district aligned curriculum, intentional instruction, and valid, local assessment. Maintaining these quality cornerstones to improve student learning requires systematic attention with engaged professional staff members.